The federal and Queensland governments have unveiled their blueprint for protecting the Great Barrier Reef for future generations. Will the $2 billion plan succeed? Our experts give their verdicts.

Rio Tinto’s Mount Thorley-Warkworth mine in the Hunter Valley, which looks set to expand further. The NSW planning department says it would “not be reasonable” to require Rio Tinto “to completely or even partially backfill the final void”.
Lock The Gate Alliance/Flickr22 March 2015

Australia likely has decades of fossil fuels left to extract, export and burn. That could prove to be a problem if the world comes to an agreement on climate change. Here's four ways to help the economy, and the climate.

What happens to coal in China will play a big role in deciding which climate road we’re all on.
Han Jun Zeng/Flickr25 February 2015

On Wednesday, Queensland’s parliament passed water reform legislation that will make it easier to take and use water, particularly for large mining and agriculture projects. The state government also recently…

I’m quite nervous about writing this. I’m going to stray from my familiar academic world into a political one, and it’s on an issue that may very well have killed several people. My reputation has already…

Fittingly for a report on a huge fire, the findings of the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry act as a smokescreen for the bigger issues behind the disaster. Partly because of its narrow terms of reference, the…

The blaze was eventually extinguished 45 days after it was sparked by a grassfire.
Country Fire Authority/AAP7 September 2014

The Hazelwood coalmine fire, which burned for 45 days earlier this year, was a catastrophe for the town of Morwell in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Homes were blanketed in smoke and ash, many residents were…

Under federal law, coal seam gas projects must be approved by the environment minister if they could have a significant impact on water.
Jeremy Buckingham/Flickr28 August 2014

The Palmer United Party (PUP) has added to the Coalition’s headaches in the Senate by announcing this week it would seek to remove the so-called “water trigger” from the government’s “one-stop shop” for…

The Saraji coal mine in the Bowen coal basin produces around 5 million tonnes of coal each year. Adani’s Carmichael mine could produce up to 60 million.
Image Library/Flickr29 July 2014

The Carmichael coal project, approved this week by environment minister Greg Hunt, is unprecedented in its scale, and also represents a significant shift in Australia’s coal industry. If the mine goes…

The Mount Thorley Warkworth mine in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales produces coal for both electricity and steel-making.
Lock the Gate Alliance/Flickr2 July 2014

At the recent midyear UN climate negotiations in Bonn, an unprecedented 60 countries (including Germany) called for a total phase-out of fossil fuels by 2050, as part of a global agreement on climate change…

Not so cheap: coal has wider costs than the price of digging it up.
Calistemon/Wikimedia Commons8 June 2014

US President Barack Obama’s latest plan to reduce carbon emissions is a welcome one, and not just because it addresses climate change. In publicising the plan to cut emissions from old coal power stations…

The fire that burned for more than 40 days at the Hazelwood coal mine in the Latrobe Valley earlier this year is the latest in a spate of mining failures over the past few years. It might seem like plain…

Turkey’s mine disaster has put safety in the spotlight.
EPA15 May 2014

The Soma coal mine tragedy in Turkey has again brought the issue of coal mining safety to the fore. With by far the largest coal industry in the world, accounting for half of global production, the Chinese…

Queensland’s groundwater is vital to the continued success of its agriculture.
Brian Yap13 August 2013

Mine operators have proposed nine major new coal mines for the Galilee Basin in central Queensland. Those proposals currently being assessed by the Queensland government could significantly impact water…

Incidents of major agricultural run-off, like the recent Queensland floods, certainly affect Great Barrier Reef water quality, but systems are in place to reduce their effect.
AAP Image/Twitter, ISS, Chris Hadfield6 February 2013

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is both a national marine park and a World Heritage Area. But next to the reef, a catchment of 400,000km2 is almost completely developed for agriculture, predominantly beef…

Governments don’t seem to take seriously the health effects of coal mining.
Ian Sanderson10 January 2013

Anti-coal protester Jonathan Moylan has said the main reason for his ANZ sharemarket hoax was his concern about the health impacts of coal mining at Maules Creek. He stressed the impact of the mine on…

If you believe industry propaganda, coal mining is a panacea not only for economic ills but also for smoothing troubled social waters. But a lack of local evidence about the health impact of the coal industry…